It is salad season! This is a super easy recipe that you can create using items harvested from the garden. It is delicious, and always seems to satisfy on a hot summer day. Enjoy! 

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard

1 garlic glove

1/3 cup olive oil

2 cups of lettuce

1 cup Arugula leaves

1/2 lb. of sliced mushrooms

1 sweet red pepper, sliced

Directions:

Salad Dressing:

In a bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard, and 1 minced clove of garlic. Add 1/3 cup of olive oil-slowly blend into mixture. Set aside.

Harvest 2 cups of several types of lettuce (tear into bite sized pieces) and 1 cup of arugula leaves. Mix and place on 4 salad plates. Place 1/2 lb. of sliced mushrooms and thin strips of 1 sweet red pepper on top of lettuce. Drizzle salad dressing over top. Enjoy!

Carrots don’t really make your face red, but can make the skin on your hands orange if you drink a vast amount of carrot juice. Carrots do contain carotene (which the body converts to vitamin A) and are an excellent source of vitamins B and C as well as calcium pectate, a pectin fiber that has been found to have cholesterol-lowering properties.

Need a new carrot recipe? Try this:

Carrot Pizza (serves 2)

Ingredients:

2, whole-wheat pitas

2, carrots, shredded

1 cup, Muenster cheese, grated

Garlic powder, to taste

Oregano, dash

Black pepper, dash

Preheat toaster oven to 300 degrees. Distribute carrots evenly over the concave side of the whole pita. Distribute cheese on top of carrots. Top with loads of garlic powder, a dash of oregano and pepper. Bake in toaster oven about 15 min. Serve and eat. (From the website of World Carrot Museum)

How to microwave carrots: Put about a pound of carrots (sliced or whole) into a lidded microwave dish. Pour boiling water over the carrots to cover them, then immediately pour off the water leaving the carrots wet with about one tablespoon of water in the bottom of the dish. Cover and microwave at full power for about 8 minutes. This works every time.

One of my favorite things to do with microwave carrots is to puree them in a blender and add to mashed potatoes. One carrot to about 2-3 cups of mashed potatoes is about right. It produces a wonderful orange color and marvelous taste. When baked on top of a Sheppard’s pie, it’s gorgeous as well as tasty.

 Irish proverb:  Never bolt your door with a boiled carrot.

What did the carrot say to the wheat? Lettuce rest, I‘m feeling beet.        Shel Silverstein